The present invention relates to selective radiation projection systems. More particularly, the present invention relates to Digital Light Processing (DLP) projector systems that are used for selective radiation exposure.
In DLP projectors, the image is created by microscopically small mirrors laid out in a matrix on a semiconductor chip, known as a Digital Micromirror Device (DMD). Each of these mirrors can be repositioned rapidly to reflect light either through the projecting lens onto a display or onto a light sink, i.e. light dump. Rapidly toggling a micromirror between these two orientations (essentially on and off) produces grayscales on the display, controlled by the ratio of on-time to off-time. Each micromirror typically represents one pixel in the projected image, and the number of micromirrors typically corresponds to the resolution of the projected image. 800×600, 1024×768, 1280×720, and 1920×1080 (HDTV) matrices are some common DMD sizes which are used today in DLP projectors. The common price of a typical DLP projector today depends greatly on its optimal resolution.
US application publication no. 2006/0023065 to Ray Alden discloses a method for multiplying the resolution of a display. In an iterative process, a DLP projector projects a first image which is directed to a first quadrant of a display screen, a second image which is directed to a second quadrant of the display screen, a third image which is directed to a third quadrant of the display screen, and a fourth image which is directed to a fourth quadrant of the display screen. Each of the four images comprises a quarter of a full high resolution image which are by this prolonged process tiled together to comprise one high resolution image.